Injured Photographer Dims Marlins Win

JOSH DUBOW

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, July 1, 2003

AP Sports Writer

Darren Bragg was visibly shaken. Mike Lowell was in no mood to celebrate. A forgetful night for the Atlanta Braves and a record-setting one for the Florida Marlins were afterthoughts when a photographer was hospitalized after getting hit by an errant bat, leading to significant bleeding.

"I saw a lot of blood," Lowell said after his Marlins beat the Braves 20-1 Tuesday night. "I know the other camera people were ducking. The guy was really laid out on the stretcher."

The man, working beyond the first-base dugout, was hit when Bragg's bat slipped out of his hands. The unidentified photographer sustained lacerations to the face but never lost consciousness, the Marlins said. He was airlifted to a hospital and there was no immediate word on his condition.

The game was held up for 18 minutes while the photographer was tended to by medical personnel.

"I'm told that he's OK, and I'm glad about that," Bragg said. "I felt terrible when it happened. I found out right away that they were calling for a stretcher, and I knew that was a bad situation."

The Marlins set a team record for runs and matched a team mark with 25 hits, with Miguel Cabrera, Ivan Rodriguez and Luis Castillo each getting four. Cabrera homered twice, drove in four runs and scored four times.

Lowell drove in three runs, a few hours after the Marlins said they would not be trading their star third baseman. Ramon Castro also homered as the Marlins won for the sixth straight time at home.

The accomplishments paled after the scene in the seventh inning, however.

"It's disappointing that on a night when we have 20 runs, we're probably more concerned about how he turns out," Florida manager Jack McKeon said. "It's a freaky situation. The guy really got nailed. I feel sorry for him, and I hope he turns out all right."

The game was eerily reminiscent of the Marlins' 25-8 loss last Friday against the Red Sox in Boston. In that game, Marlins relief pitcher Kevin Olsen was injured when he was hit in the head by a line drive and suffered a concussion and received six stitches to his right ear.

Josh Beckett (3-3) won in his first start in nearly two months following an elbow injury. He pitched three-hit ball for six innings, allowing only an unearned run in a 91-pitch effort.

Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 4

At Denver, Arizona's 12-game winning streak ended as Ronnie Belliard hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh for Colorado.

The Rockies hit four homers in breaking Arizona's team-record winning string. It was the best streak in the majors since the Oakland A's won 20 in a row last Aug. 13-Sept. 4.